HAPPY NEW YEAR1
01.01.2018
We had a great evening with our friends yesterday evening. A most enjoyable meal from 8 – 10 p.m. The ship had organised a New Year´s Eve party by the pool on the open deck with music and a good atmosphere. The captain let in the New Year with the sound of brass bells rang by the crew and a countdown from the crew and passengers. It was a beautiful warm evening under the eyes of the stars and moon shining above.
KOMODO – INDONESIA
I had not prepared a tour for Komodo nor the next Island of Lombok. It seemed a bit difficult to get tour information and to be truthful it is easier sometimes to organise such when you are standing in the area.
We knew that most passengers were booked on tours with the ship to the National Park to see the Komodo Dragons (Warane) and thereafter to Pink Beach to swim. The price booked on the ship was approx. 115 Euro.
The ship had to use tender boats here. We were lucky as Atanas got tender boat tickets at 7 a.m. for the 6 of us (Kathrin, Atanas, Helga & Walter). We were more or less the first group off the boat. The pier led us to the gates of the National Park where we asked for a price for a tour to see the Dragons. We were offered a walking tour and the Pink Beach approx. 3-4 hours (the same tour as the ship) for 75 Euro.
By now there were about 50 other passengers behind us and everyone thought 75 Euro was too expensive. After about 15 minutes of discussion they lowered their price to 50 Euro per person and more or less everyone waiting booked.
We set off in our group of 12 people walking through the National park. We had been walking for approx. 45 minutes when we arrived at a waterhole and discovered 3 large dragons and one smaller one. Our guide explained the dangers of getting too near. These creatures can kill you. They move fast and their salve is poisonous. They also then eat their prey. They move extremely fast und should not be under estimated. After we had stood at the water hole for approx. 15 minutes another larger dragon arrived and their was a short fight between two larger ones. Everyone was more than happy that we had seen these creatures that now only exist on Komodo. There are approx. 1300 dragons still alive on the island. Our guides were equipped with fork like sticks which were approx. 2 meters long so that they could ward off and dragons that came too near.
Wanderung zu den Komodo Dragons - Warane
BEACH ACTIVITIES
Pink Beach
After leaving the water hole we passed through a small area where venders were trying to sell their goods. Most of the stands looked alike. They more or less all had the same goods. Our guide led us back to the area that we had arrived at where a smaller boat was waiting for us. The boat took us the Pink Beach. It was super there and I was so glad we had taken our snorkel equipment with us. Unfortunately I ha forgotten to take the underwater camera. The water was beautiful, clear and we were easily able to watch fish feeding from the corral. We arrived back on board our ship mid afternoon and still had time to have some lunch and then go back off the ship with my drone.
While flying my drone we noted that there were some dragons on the beach. We had been told that people should not swim on the beach by the docking area, only on Pink Beach where it was safe.
On our way back to the ship we saw several kids and decided to give them some of the items we had brought with us i.e. pens, books, soap etc,. We went back to the ship fast to get these items and the kids were thrilled with our gifts.
Back on the ship we started preparing for the next day and also getting ready to leave the ship again on Bali the day after.
We arrived on Komodo with no great expectation and we had a wonderful 1st of January 2018. A new year full of new adventures!
Notes of interest – Komodo & its Dragons:
Komodo is one of the 17,508 islands that compose the Republic of Indonesia. The island is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth, which is named after the island. Komodo Island has a surface area of 390 square kilometres and a human population of over two thousand. The people of the island are descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island and who have mixed with Bugis from Sulawesi. The people are primarily adherents of Islam but there are also Christian and Hindu congregations.
Info on Komodo:
The earliest stories (among Westerners) of a dragon existing in the region circulated widely and attracted considerable attention. But no Westerner visited the island to check the story until official interest was sparked in the early 1910s by stories from Dutch sailors who had heard about a mysterious creature. The creature was allegedly a dragon which inhabited a small island in the Lesser Sunda Islands (the main island of which is Flores).
The Dutch sailors reported that the creature measured up to seven metres (twenty-three feet) in length with a large body and mouth which constantly breathed fire. it burnt them and so they could not continue the investigation. it was believed then that the odd creature could fly. Hearing the reports, Lieutenant Steyn van Hensbroek, an official of the Dutch Colonial Administration in Flores, planned a trip to Komodo Island to continue the search himself. He armed himself, and accompanied by a team of soldiers he landed on the island. After a few days, Hensbroek managed to kill one of the lizards to investigate.
Van Hensbroek took the dragon to headquarters where measurements were taken. It was approximately 2.1 meters (6.9 feet) long, with a shape very similar to that of a lizard. More samples were then photographed by Peter A. Ouwens, the Director of the Zoological Museum and Botanical Garden in Bogar, Java. The records that Ouwens made are the first reliable documentation of details about what is now called the Komodo dragon (or Komodo monitor).
Ouwens was keen to obtain additional samples. He recruited hunters who killed two dragons measuring 3.1 metres and 3.35 metres as well as capturing two pups, each measuring less than one metre. Ouwens carried out studies on the samples and concluded that the Komodo dragon was not a flame-thrower but was a type of monitor lizard. Research results were published in 1912. Ouwens named the giant lizard Varanus komodoensis. Realizing the significance of the dragons on Komodo Island as an endangered species, the Dutch government issued a regulation on the protection of the lizards on Komodo Island in 1915.
The Komodo dragon became something of a living legend. In the decades since the Komodo was discovered, various scientific expeditions from a range of countries have carried out field research on the dragons on Komodo Island.
Komodo dragons are carnivores ( "meat eaters"). Young Komodo dragons spend much of their first few years in trees, where they are relatively safe from predators, including cannibalistic adults,
When the babies hatch out of the eggs within the nest, they digs various tunnels in the nest to mislead their parents as to where they are hiding. After a while they then climb onto trees to feed and hide from their parents until they are three years old.
Although they have been considered as eating mostly carrion, they will frequently ambush live prey with a stealthy approach. When suitable prey arrives near a dragon's ambush site, it will suddenly charge at the animal at high speeds and go for the underside or the throat. Komodo dragons make no attempt to deliberately allow the prey to escape with fatal injuries, but try to kill prey outright using a combination of lacerating damage and blood loss. They have been recorded as killing wild pigs within seconds, and observations of Komodo dragons tracking prey for long distances are likely misinterpreted cases of prey escaping an attack before succumbing to infection. Komodo dragons have been observed knocking down large pigs and deer with their strong tails. It is able to locate carcasses using its keen sense of smell, which can locate a dead or dying animal from a range of up to 9.5 km (5.9 mi).
Komodo dragons eat by tearing large chunks of flesh and swallowing them whole while holding the carcass down with their forelegs. For smaller prey up to the size of a goat, their loosely articulated jaws, flexible skulls, and expandable stomachs allow them to swallow prey whole. The vegetable contents of the stomach and intestines are typically avoided. Copious amounts of red saliva the Komodo dragons produce help to lubricate the food, but swallowing is still a long process (15–20 minutes to swallow a goat). A Komodo dragon may attempt to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully, the tree is knocked down. A small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs allows it to breathe while swallowing. After eating up to 80% of its body weight in one meal, it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the dragon if left undigested for too long. Because of their slow metabolism, large dragons can survive on as few as 12 meals a year.
Inhabitants souvenier corner
Around the island
Donations - books, pencils, biros - to the kids on the island
Spenden an die Kinder - Schulbücher, Bleistifte, Kügelschreiber
Sail away photos with sunset
PETER:
Sylvester trafen wir uns mit unseren neuen Freunden um 20.00 Uhr. Die Küche hatte sich besonders ins Zeug gelegt und leckere Gerichte im Büffetbereich zur Auslage gebracht. Gegen 22.00 Uhr sind wir umgezogen auf das Pool deck wo die Party bereits begonnen hatte. Wir ergatterten den letzten Stehtisch, die noch verbliebene Zeit bis Mitternacht verflog mit Hilfe der gut spielenden Band wie im Flug. Um 0.30 Uhr verließen wir die Party um am Morgen fit für die früh beginnende Tour auf Komodo zu sein.
01.01.2018 Stopp vor Komodo
Wir sahen bereits die ersten Indonesischen Inseln als der Kapitän wieder einmal von einem Krankheits-bedingten kleinen Umweg berichten musste. Wir fuhren in eine lange Bucht dem Rettungskreuzer entdeckten übergaben die Person dem selben, drehten und setzten unsere Fahrt fort. Der Kapitän, durch unsere mehrfache Abwesenheit von unserem Wassertaxi habe ich total vergessenen zu erwähnen das unser 1. Kapitän und sein Stellvertreter genervt von den ganzen Vorfällen in Sydney von Bord gegangen sind und durch Kapitän Tommy Möller ersetzt wurde inzwischen geübt verlorene Zeit aufzu- holen meistere auch diese nicht einkalkulierte Verzögerung und ankerte wie vorgesehen um 6.00 Uhr vor der Insel.
Wir frühstückten sehr früh, Atanas besorge die Tender boat Tickets, und wieder mal durch gute Teamarbeit konnten wir den ersten Tender nehmen. Wir hatten natürlich wieder nicht die von Schiff angebotenen Touren gebucht sondern begaben uns an den Eingang des der UNESCO angehörigen Nationalparks.
Ersteinmal ging es wieder darum den unverschämt hohen Preis von 75 USD zu drücken. Wir einigten uns auf 50 USD pro Person inklusive Bootstour zum PINK BEACH. Unsere Gruppe hatte sich von 6 auf 12 vergrößert wir wurden von 2 Rangers begleitet. Erst einmal sahen wir nur Busch und Bäume, es wurden einige Bäume erklärt, dann griff er sich ein etwa 3 cm im Durchmesser kleines Insekt.
Die Fotografieren kamen nun aus ihrer Ecke. 10 Minuten später an einen Wasserloch wurde fotografiert was die Technik hergab den dort lagen 5 Warane bewacht von einigen Rangers mit langen Stöcken wie bestellt für uns Touristen, ein weiterer Waran fand seinen Weg zum Wasserloch, es war offensichtlich ein tragendes Weibchen die sogleich ihre Artgenossen angriff, derweilen machte sich das jüngste und kleinste Tier aus den Staub. Die Komodo-Warane können bis zu 3 Meter lang bei einem Gewicht bis zu 100 Kilo schwer werden, es sind Kannibale die sogar ihr eigenen Jungen fressen. Sie vergraben ihre Eier in sogenannte Erdgelege, die jungen schlüpfen nach 9 Monaten. Sie sind sofort auf sich selbst gestellt und beginnen bereits beim Verlassen des Geleges mit dem Überlebenskampf.
Vor dem endgültigen Verlassen der Geburtsstätte graben sie mehrere kleine Tunnel um ihre "Mutter" zu verwirren die vor dem Erdhügel auf das verlassen der Neugeborenen wartet um es zu verspeisen. Gelingt dem kleinen unbeschadet der Weg in die Natur, verschwindet es für bis zu 3 Jahre auf einem der Bäume und ernährt sich fortan erst einmal von Blättern und Insekten. Ausgewachsene Warane können bis zu 25 km schnell sein, sie wittern ihre Beute in bis zu 8 km Entfernung über ihre Zunge, als Fleischfresser ernähren sie sich von größeren Säugetieren wie dem Mähnenhirsch, Rehe u. Schweine. Der banale Biss eines Warans endet ebenfalls meist tödlich da der Speichel Gift enthält welches im Unterkiefer produziert wird. Auch weiß man das einige Touristen ebenfalls verspeist worden sind. An Kameras und Sonnenbrillen waren sie nicht interessiert, das war das einzige was zbs von einem Schweizer Touristen übrig blieb der sich unerlaubt von der Gruppe entfernt hatte. Es leben noch ca. 4000 Exemplare auf 4 Inseln.
Der Rundgang ging zu Ende und wir verließen komplett den Busch und die possierlichen Tierchen, vom Strand aus fuhren wir mit einem kleinen Holzboot Richtung PINK BEACH. Die Fahrt dauerte 15 Minuten, an der Beach tummelten sich bereits jede Menge Aida Reisende, es war aber Platz für alle da. Badehosen an, Taucherbrille und Schnochel auf gesetzt so stürzten wir uns ins Wasser, kurze Zeit später waren wir am Riff und sahen wunderschöne farbig gezeichnete Fische. Das wiederholten wir noch ein paarmal. Zwischenzeitlich ging ich meiner Leidenschaft nach und sammelte herrlich farbige Steine und besondere Muscheln. Nach 1.5 Stunden brachte uns der Fährmann wieder an die Anlegestelle zurück, wir schauten uns noch die angebotenen Waren an. An jeden Stand sahen wir nahezu die gleichen Artikel zudem nervten die Händlerinnen und Händler.
Zurück am Schiff kamen wir gerade rechtzeitig um etwas zu essen. Inzwischen reifte in Linda die Idee am Strand die Drohne fliegen zu lassen. Kurze Zeit später saßen wir wieder im Tender. Es klappte wieder prima.
Ein paar Kinder waren in unserer Nähe und fragen mal wieder nach Geld, da wir 3 Koffer voller Spenden eigentlich für Sri Lanka dabei hatten kam der Gedanke auf diesen Kindern ein paar nützliche Dinge zu holen. Noch einmal hin und her getendert übergaben wir den Kindern Kugelschreiber und Schulhefte.
Um 21.00 Uhr waren wir reif fürs Bett.